


Dreamcatcher

by DarkCh1ld



Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M, Mutual Pining, Protective Siblings, Unresolved Sexual Tension, it's out of love, meddlesome family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-26
Updated: 2015-10-15
Packaged: 2018-04-06 07:26:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4213089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkCh1ld/pseuds/DarkCh1ld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The McKean-Alvarez Bistro has a reputation as “the best Hispanic-American fusion family restaurant in Salem,” emphasis on the word family—every one of the 17 workers at the restaurant are part of the brood, a fact that never goes unnoticed by locals and newcomers. For EdTech CFO Nicholas Edwards, the restaurant is like a second home. He looks forward to every visit, especially with his stupidly attractive friend Marli there to serve him every lunch and dinner shift. The others have noticed the way the two gravitate around each other as soon as they make contact and Marli’s sneaky, meddlesome cousins Connie and Shelby and his somewhat overprotective younger sister Tarah devise a plan to get them together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The first time Marli Alvarez and Nicholas Edwards met, it was raining.

Nicholas had been allowed inside the McKean-Alvarez Bistro after closing time on Wednesday to escape the increasingly violent thunderstorm and was led to the back to wait it out by one of the servers, a petite young woman with long light brown hair and dark blue eyes named Tarah. It was there, in the break-slash-changing room, that he saw Marli, and to the present day he still hadn't forgotten that meeting due to one simple fact—Marli had been half-naked.

Surprisingly, though, it wasn't the other man's leanly muscled torso tapering off into a slim waist and mile-long legs that Nicholas  _definitely_  wasn't imagining wrapped around his waist or over his shoulders, or his perfectly bronzed skin, or even the glorious sight of him stretching and unconsciously flexing his gorgeous ass in a figure-hugging pair of low-riding black jeans that had the memory stuck in his mind. It was the tattoo decorating his entire back—a golden dreamcatcher that started just under the top of his spine, right between his shoulder blades, and reached all the way down to his tailbone. The dreamcatcher was made up of two circles, the top one double the size of the bottom, with four large feathers fanning off of the edges of the top and three from the bottom. The tips of the top two feathers just barely touched his sides.

“Beautiful…” Nicholas couldn't help but murmur softly. Obviously not softly enough to be discreet, because Marli twitched violently and turned his head, clutching a red tank top to his chest. Nicholas flushed pink and held up his hands in apology, “I'm sorry; I didn't mean to startle you. Your coworker let me in to wait out the storm. I was just admiring your tattoo. It's amazing.”

To his relief, the man simply smiled slightly and pulled on his tank top, turning fully and holding out a hand, “No problem, and thanks. My name's Marli Alvarez. Yours?”

“Nicholas Edwards. It's a pleasure to meet you, Marli.” Nicholas took the proffered hand, giving it a firm shake and letting their fingers brush as he released it.

“I'm Tarah Alvarez, by the way, Marli's younger sister,” a soft voice chimed in behind Nicholas, startling him. He turned and smiled at the young woman, shaking her hand as well.

“It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Tarah, and thank you for your hospitality.”

“It's no problem at all. My grandparents would throw me out on my ass if I left you out there to fend for yourself in that deluge.” Tarah waved off his concern, patting his shoulder with more force than it looked like her small, elegant hands could muster, “I should've told you that I wasn't alone in here, saved you both the shock.”

Marli and Nicholas shared a quick smile before Marli turned to slip a beige Henley on over his tank and pull an oversized sweater around his shoulders. “Is it really that bad out there?” he asked worriedly, brow furrowing, “I was kind of hoping I'd be able to get to sleep early tonight.”

Nicholas raised an eyebrow, looking at his watch, “It's almost midnight and you're calling it ‘early?’”

Marli chuckled and ran his fingers through his hair, brushing some of the pale blond locks behind his ear and revealing that at least half of the left side seemed to be shaved down to the scalp. Nicholas resisted the urge to reach out and see if the other side looked the same.

“Well, most of the time I don't get home until nearly two in the morning. Tarah and I are in charge of cleanup on weekdays,” Marli was explaining, pulling on some socks and dark brown Timberlands, “which explains why we're here right now, but not  _you_.”

“I'm sorry?”

“Well, I don't mean to pry, but I was wondering why you were out late enough to warrant getting stuck here waiting out the storm.” Marli inclined his head toward another door as he spoke, leading Nicholas and Tarah into the kitchen.

Tarah nodded in agreement, “Yeah, you didn't even have an umbrella. I'd wager you didn't think you'd be out in the rain at all.”

Nicholas chuckled and scratched at the stubble on his jaw, shaking his head. He pulled out his wallet, extracting two business cards and handing them to Marli and Tarah as he pocketed his wallet again.

“You guys ever heard of EdTech?” he started, waiting until they nodded to continue, “I'm the CFO. I was in a late meeting there and it ran longer than I expected. I'm usually in the office between five am and nine pm; you could imagine how that schedule could tire someone out. Being there three extra hours made me lose focus and I didn't even realize the storm was getting this bad until I was in it.”

Marli and Tarah's eyes widened considerably, and it would've been amusing had Nicholas not just realized how absolutely exhausted he was. He leaned back against the wall with a heavy sigh, running his hands over his face.

Tarah was the first to speak, “Jesus Christ, 16-hour workdays? How many days out of the week do you work? Do you even eat breakfast or lunch? What do you do about dinner?”

“Whoa, slow down. I work six days a week, Sunday through Friday, with certain holidays—Christmas Eve and Day, New Years' Eve and Day, Easter, Independence Day, and Thanksgiving—off. I'll typically skip breakfast or just grab a piece of fruit to eat on the way to work, and I eat a small lunch at my desk. Dinner is generally the biggest meal of the day for me.” Nicholas explained, frowning when Marli's shocked expression turned into one of distaste. “Is there a problem, Marli?”

“Only that you're doing everything you can to make sure your body deteriorates before 30. How do you even survive on that kind of diet, with your schedule?” Marli inquired, giving Nicholas a quick once-over.

“It's worked out well for me this far. Besides, hitting 30 isn't really my concern. I'm already 28. There's not really another way I can think of to eat without sacrificing time to finish my work.”

“How far is EdTech from here?” Tarah cut in, placing a hand on Marli's arm. The blond's expression softened as he seemed to catch on to what his sister was aiming for.

Nicholas thought back to the path he took to the office, calculating in his head, “I'm not exactly sure, but it's less than five miles. It took me about an hour to walk here with the rain today. Why?”

“Do you drive?” Marli asked instead of answering Nicholas' question.

“I can, but I prefer not to unless I'm traveling. I usually take a taxi. Where are you going with this?”

Tarah and Marli looked at each other and then back at Nicholas, grinning, “It's settled. Come here on your next lunch break.”

“Wait, what?” Nicholas blinked owlishly at the two, frowning deeper, “What are you talking about?”

Tarah clapped him on the shoulder again, dark eyes sparkling, “You're in a restaurant, sir. We serve only the best Hispanic-American fusion food you'll ever have the pleasure of tasting, and it's not too expensive. Not that that seems like a problem for you; I can tell that suit is Armani. Not to mention you've just made friends with two of the servers, which will get you major points with the rest of the staff.”

Nicholas could feel his lips starting to tilt up into a small smile at the woman's exuberance, and decided to go along with her spiel, “And why is that?”

“Because every single employee here is a family member,” Marli answered, “all the way up to the owners.”

"Our grandparents,” Tarah added.

Faced with two pairs of pleading blue eyes, Nicholas could only concede, “Fine, fine. You've convinced me. My lunch break is at one, so I'll be here then.”

He most assuredly did _not_ look directly at Marli as he spoke just to watch the blond's lips split in a brilliant smile.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a little over a month since Nicholas started going to the Bistro. After the first time the Thursday after meeting Marli and Tarah, he was there without fail every day at exactly one-fifteen pm for lunch, and returned at nine-fifteen for dinner. He typically stayed for at least an hour and a half, chatting with Marli and the other servers—Tarah, his older sister Erykah, his aunt Wendy, and his older cousins Alissa and Connie—along with one of the bussers, his youngest cousin Shelby. He'd also found out that Marli lived not too far from the restaurant with Connie, Tarah, and Shelby. He'd met Marli's grandparents Imogen and Thatcher, became friends with the chef and Marli's brother Fletcher and his fiancé Jason, and traded affectionate insults with Marli's oldest sister and hostess Callista.

The majority of his time however was spent poring over whatever project he had that week, murmuring answers to questions directed at him and half-listening to conversations until he was nearly done with his food, at which point he would rejoin the conversation with gusto. It was one of such times on a sunny Wednesday afternoon. Nicholas was just finishing approving the last of 200 budgets when Tarah plopped down into the booth across from him with a huge grin.

"Something I can help you with, Tarah? Do you need this booth for other customers?" he asked without looking up from his tablet.

Tarah shook her head, "Nope. Just wanted to know if you've got plans this Saturday."

“If I didn't know you so well by now, I would think you're about to ask me on a date. But no, I don't have plans. Why?”

“Because the ladies and I are going to the pool, and I thought you might want to join us,” Marli's voice chimed in behind him.

That got Nicholas to look up, eyes wide as his fingers skittered clumsily across his tablet screen. He saw Tarah raise a brow from the corner of his eye, silently praying that she didn't comment. “Hey, Marli.”

“Afternoon. So, what do you say? You, me, and seven attractive young women. Eight, if Callista brings Georgia along.” Marli leaned against the back of the booth, close enough that Nicholas could feel his breath on his cheek. The redhead did his damnedest to fight back the blush trying to stain his cheeks at the thought of seeing Marli's lean, toned body soaked and glowing in the sun.

With a noncommittal shrug and playful smirk to hide his nervousness, Nicholas replied, “How could I refuse an offer like that? Sure, I'll go. Just text me where and when and I'll meet you there.”

“Awesome. I'll tell the others,” Marli grinned brightly and gave Nicholas’ ponytail a quick but gentle tug, spinning around to attend to his tables.

Nicholas rubbed his neck self-consciously, eyes glued to Marli's ass until he heard Tarah clear her throat loudly, making him jump. He'd forgotten she was still sitting in the booth with him.

“ _Dios_ _mío_ ,” she sighed with exaggerated exasperation, her unimpressed stare making Nicholas flush pink, “You're so obvious I'm shocked you haven't just ripped off all of your clothes and offered yourself to him.”

Nicholas spluttered, but his chance to retort was cut off by Tarah being called back to work. He settled on pinching her in the side as she passed, taking a small amount of pleasure in the squeak she emitted.

Unfortunately, she was right. He couldn't count the number of times he'd gotten distracted during conversation or working in the Bistro by Marli's voice or eyes or hair or smile or body. He was surprised that the other man hadn't seemed to notice his frankly pitiful lack of ability to tear his attention away whenever he spoke or laughed or did anything, really. As much as he was anticipating this outing with his friends, he dreaded the possibility that he wouldn't be able to keep himself in line. So, with a quick, urgent prayer for self-control, he packed up his tablet and left.


	3. Chapter 3

Nicholas probably should have prayed a little more insistently, because nothing could prepare him for the discovery that Marli had freckles. And they were _everywhere_. There were freckles across his nose, down his arms, spotting his back and chest randomly, and absolutely covering his legs. Most distracting of all, though, was a small cluster of about six freckles just behind Marli’s right ear—and because the other man’s soaked fauxhawk was all brushed to the left, the cluster was entirely visible and _taunting_ Nicholas, daring him to pull the blond down to kiss and bite at it. Nicholas was finding it quite impossible to keep up conversation with Connie when Marli folded nearly in half with laughter as Callista tossed Tarah in the pool and the sun lighted on those damnable freckles.

Connie, of course, noticed his lack of attention and followed his gaze, smirking deviously. “So, Nicky,” she started, knowing that Nicholas wasn’t really registering a word she said, “are you cool with me pushing you into the water?”

“Uh-huh…” Nicholas murmured, blinking rapidly in shock when Connie grabbed his hand and yanked him out of his lounge chair. “Wait, what are you doing?”

Connie giggled childishly and stopped at the edge of the pool, staring down into the crystal clear water, “I’m doing exactly what you said I could.”

Nicholas didn’t have time to do anything but yelp as Connie tackled him into the water, coming up a second later spluttering while the brunette cackled madly a few feet away—and when did she get that far anyway?

Marli was close to overbalancing from laughter where he sat with his legs in the water, face red from exertion. Nicholas growled and sank back under the water, swimming silently over to the blond. When he floated just in front of him, he rocketed out of the water and grabbed Marli by the back of the neck, yanking him down into the pool. Marli coughed upon his escape from the watery depths, shaking his head to unclog his ears.

“Really, Nicholas? You had to stoop to Connie’s level?” he grumped, but Nicholas could see the smile he was fighting.

“Turnabout is fair play, and besides, you were laughing. I think that was well-deserved.” The redhead retorted, reaching up to push loose hair back …only to find that in Connie’s attack, his hair tie had snapped and the dark red locks that were usually in a semi-tame ponytail were now hanging wildly around his face and sticking to his neck, “Jesus, that’s gonna be a bitch to deal with later.”

“Tsk, tsk, cursing and using Christ’s name in the same breath,” Tarah called teasingly from the high dive board. “What would Imogen and Thatcher say?”

“They would agree with me. Do you know how long it takes to get this shit in some semblance of order?” Nicholas returned, trying to get his hair to stay in loose braid to no avail.

Marli swam around him and smacked his hands away, somehow expertly wrapping Nicholas’ hair into a tight bun with other strands of hair and patting the redhead’s shoulder, “There. That should hold until we get to the house at least.”

Nicholas swam to the edge of the pool and pulled himself out, heading back to his chair and reclining once again, “Thanks, Marli. Don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Since his eyes were closed, he missed Marli turning scarlet and sinking back under the water.

They stayed at the pool for a couple more hours before packing up their stuff and heading to Marli’s house for a barbecue that, in Georgia’s words, promised to have “the best food Nicholas ever put in his mouth.”


End file.
